Women, work and industrial relations in Australia in 2013

2018

Throughout 2017, public interest, parliamentary debate and academic research about women, work and industrial relations centred around a few key themes: pay and income inequality, health and well-being at work and the intersection of paid and unpaid work. These themes were identified in three related yet distinct mediums: the media, parliamentary debate and academic literature. Automated content analysis software was used to assist in the thematic analysis of media articles and the House of Representatives Hansard, supplemented by a manual analysis of relevant academic publications. A thematic overlap was evident across the three datasets, despite the time lag associated with academic research and publication. This is a significant finding, emphasising that the inequalities experienced by women in the labour market are long term and entrenched.

2012

This study examines Australia's new paid and unpaid parental leave provisions and compares them to recent developments in a number of European countries. Increasingly, gender equity goals have been incorporated in the formulation of the policy approaches within a number of these countries. In recent times the EU has been a powerful driver of incorporating gender equality goals in work and family policy areas. The study addresses the question of whether, and under what conditions, policies such as the introduction of parental leave have the potential to achieve meaningful shifts in the existing gender order within a society towards a more equal dual earner-carer household structure. It suggests that there are several dimensions to an integrated work/family strategy that are likely to deliver progress towards a more equal gender order.

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2000

Ibid xvii. Federal Law Review Volume 36 ____________________________________________________________________________________ It's About Time-For A New Regulatory Approach to Equality 119 ____________________________________________________________________________________ sexual harassment. 11 In 2002, HREOC conducted a major inquiry into paid maternity leave, and issued a final report-A Time to Value: Proposal for a National Paid Maternity Leave Scheme. 12 The inquiry looked around the world and found that Australia was a laggard in being one of only two nations in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development ('OECD') (along with the United States) that does not have a national paid maternity leave scheme. 13 In response, HREOC put forward a comprehensive, well-considered and costed proposal to introduce a paid maternity leave scheme that would have at least enabled Australia to meet the minimum international standards. 14 There is some evidence that the inquiry and report raised awareness and shifted community expectations about paid maternity leave and this prompted some response by employers. 15 However, this (moderate) corporate response was not matched by government. The recommendation for paid maternity leave was rejected and instead a 'Baby Bonus' was introduced granting a lump sum to parents in respect of all births. 16 This was a welcome contribution to the expenses of a newborn, but the payment that was not means tested or related to workforce participation failed to challenge the family-unfriendliness of many workplaces. By 2005, with no paid maternity leave scheme on the horizon, 17 HREOC broadened its focus to inquire into work and care generally, launching the consultation with a discussion paper, Striking the Balance: Women, Men, Work and Family. 18 The aim of this inquiry was to broaden the 'work and family debate' to better include men's role in family life; to include forms of care other than child care (such as elder care and care for people with disability); and to highlight the relationship between paid work and unpaid work. 19

2019

The report highlights key gender gaps and obstacles to decent work for women. It explores the structural barriers, including unpaid care work, that shape the nature and extent of women’s engagement in paid employment, and examines how laws, policies and practices in certain countries have addressed them. The report also outlines the measures that can and should be taken to seize the opportunities presented by the changing world of work.

2012

(WISeR) focuses on work and socioeconomic change. WISeR is particularly interested in how organisational structure and practices, technology and economic systems, policy and institutions, environment and culture interact to influence the performance of workplaces and the wellbeing of individuals, households and communities. WISeR also specialises in socioeconomic impact assessment including the distributional impacts and human dimensions of change on different population groups and localities. Our research plays a key role in informing policy and strategy development at a national, local and international level.

2015

Differences in opportunities and outcomes in the workplace are inherent in a free and competitive market. However when differences between individuals and groups are identified as resulting from particular policies, behaviours or attitudes, any resulting inequality may be identified as unfair. Increasingly, unfair disparities in societies and their workplaces are regularly challenged. Many of the unfair disparities are recognised as caused through unfair discrimination (Anker 1997). When defining discrimination, the International Labour Organization Convention (ILO) No. 111 defines it as “any distinction, exclusion or preference made on the basis of race, colour, sex, religion, political opinion, national extraction, or social origin, which has the effect of nullifying or impairing equality of opportunity or treatment in employment or occupation” (ILO, 1958). Yet, the argument for addressing this ideal of ‘equality of opportunity’ is complex. Ekmekci (2013) identifies the difficulti...

˜The œEconomic and labour relations review/Economic and labour relations review, 2024

Feminists Law, 2012

2017

Industrial Relations Journal, 2006

The streamlining of the Lisbon strategy has introduced new integrated guidelines for economic policy and employment strategy and a new report format--the National Reform Programme. In the first year of this new reporting mechanism, Member States have paid less attention to gender mainstreaming and gender equality objectives, not least because the gender equality guideline has been removed. Streamlining has further exposed the narrow and instrumental focus on gender equality measures in the Lisbon process as a means of raising the employment rate rather than a broader concern for equal opportunity. This narrow gender equality approach also dilutes the efficacy of the economic and employment policies that are advanced. Some positive steps to advance gender equality continue to be taken, but the reforms are partial, uneven and coexist with negative developments. We illustrate this with an evaluation of the policy trajectory in relation to the 'making work pay' agenda for low-waged workers (tax/ benefit reform, minimum wages, childcare and parental leave). We conclude that this latest reform to the Lisbon process has exposed the enormous amount of political work and capacity building that is needed to mainstream gender issues across the whole field of economic, employment and social policies.

2018

Employee Relations, 2007

Purpose -The purpose of this article is to assess the ability of formal equal employment opportunity (EEO) programmes and workplace agreement making to facilitate work and family balance for women workers in Australia. Design/methodology/approach -This article uses documentary analysis and semi-structured interviews in six Australian organisations that are required to develop formal EEO programmes. Findings -Formal EEO programmes and agreement making are limited in their ability to promote work and family-friendly arrangements at the workplace. Informal arrangements and managerial discretion are important in realising work and care balance.

Journal of Industrial Relations, 2012

This paper focuses on the minimum working time standards in the 'safety net' created by the Fair Work Act 2009. We draw on an analysis of on-paper minima in the 10 National Employment Standards (NES) and in two Modern Awards covering paid care workers. We argue that the gendered legacy of poorer working time provisions in non-standard jobs held by many Australian women workers has been reproduced in the architecture of the new Fair Work regime. Our case study suggests that the permanent full-time norm of employment continues to permeate working time regulation, despite the fragmentation of the standard employment relationship with the growth in casual and part-time work. Not only does casual status limit the access of many women workers to particular NES, but there remain significant and gendered differences in award minimum working time standards, particularly for casual and part-time care workers, in comparison with the conditions and protections provided in one of the key male industry awards. Further, a hierarchy of working time standards for care workers has been reproduced, underpinned by differences in contract status, job classification and work location. This leaves those at the bottom of this hierarchy with little working time or income security. 2

Industrial Relations Journal, 2006

The streamlining of the Lisbon strategy has introduced new integrated guidelines for economic policy and employment strategy and a new report format--the National Reform Programme. In the first year of this new reporting mechanism, Member States have paid less attention to gender mainstreaming and gender equality objectives, not least because the gender equality guideline has been removed. Streamlining has further exposed the narrow and instrumental focus on gender equality measures in the Lisbon process as a means of raising the employment rate rather than a broader concern for equal opportunity. This narrow gender equality approach also dilutes the efficacy of the economic and employment policies that are advanced. Some positive steps to advance gender equality continue to be taken, but the reforms are partial, uneven and coexist with negative developments. We illustrate this with an evaluation of the policy trajectory in relation to the 'making work pay' agenda for low-waged workers (tax/ benefit reform, minimum wages, childcare and parental leave). We conclude that this latest reform to the Lisbon process has exposed the enormous amount of political work and capacity building that is needed to mainstream gender issues across the whole field of economic, employment and social policies.